Rewiring
by castingspells
Summary: "I know it won't last. I know that one day, he'll wake up and the man I've grown to love these few months will disappear. I know that, but I'm a glutton for punishment." SxE AH


Prologue:

The cool air of Seattle wrapped around my body on my way toward the double doors of the hospital. There were times when I loved the weather here. I moved here from sunny, humid Florida and my hair thanked me on my long walks to work by not shriveling up like a rodent on my head. Straightening my hair actually worked now, and I could move five steps without starting to sweat. I didn't have to worry about stumbling upon the many gators that graced Tallahassee. So I was forever grateful, and my move had been a good one.

After I finished my residency at Florida State, I realized that I didn't have many roots there, save for my brother and his girlfriend. And even then, Florida never felt like home. I applied for a position at Harborview, and the next thing I knew I was on a flight to a place I'd never been before.

A place that immediately made me feel everything Florida never did.

"Excuse me, Doctor Gilbert?"

Lydia, a nurse I'd seen on a few occasions, bounds forward to reach out a chart. I offer her a warm smile, and look over the papers carefully."They're bringing in two: one male, one female. They could possibly be a couple. Impact was made on the driver's side where the man was. His name is Stefan Salvatore, he's at the top. The passenger was identified as Alexia Branson. The injuries are unidentified because most seem fairly internal."

My mind goes into overdrive and I start walking toward the designated room. Lydia follows, ticking off facts about the accidents. "We paged you because Mr. Salvatore has several contusions around the skull area. He was reported bleeding from both his eye sockets and has multiple rib injuries as well as leg scarring."

"Damn." I shake my head as I turn the faucet on to wash my hands. "Were they hit by a train?"

"Truck. They should be moving in shortly."

"Thank you. Could you grab Caroline? I need her in here."

She moves like a blur out the door. I pull on a pair of gloves just as a pile of nurses pour in. I read over Mr. Salvatore's medical history to ensure that he doesn't have anything that could affect the procedure and hang it beside the table. Caroline bursts through the door, yanking on her own gloves.

"How can I help you, Doc?" Her hair is drew up in a tight, blonde ponytail, swaying as she moves around the room.

"I need you to keep track of his heart rate for me. I've got his chart over there. They don't know if he's comatose so we can't be to tough on him."

"Any heart conditions?"

I shake my head and pull out a few scalpels.

"Damon wanted to know if you wanted him to step in and help out."

I roll my eyes. "That's not a question."

"Doctor Gilbert! He's moving in!"

The doors bust open and a blonde head is moved underneath me. His body is somewhat mangled but not enough to make me wince. I've seen so much in my line of work that it hardly phases me. From what I can see beneath blood and bruises, he's a good-looking guy.

I immediately check the bruising of his skull and feel around the crown of him slowly. "How's that heartbeat, Care?"

"Steady!"

I pull open his shirt and feel around his mangled ribs. "Three are broken. The fourth one feels like it could be a hairline fracture. We need an x-ray on his skull and abdomen. His heartbeat is at a normal pace, breathing steady. Get a wrap around the wounds. I pull open one of his eyelids and snap them shut just as quickly. "Subconjunctival Hemorrhages in both eyes. Heartbeat?"

"We're good," Caroline calls, handing me some gauze. My eyes zero in on his wrist and I immediately reach for my scissors.

"I found the source of blood. There's a shard of glass stuck in his wrist. It's twisted sideways, we need to get that out of him now."

I flip his wrist over facing up and pull out my scalpel. I cut across the tip of the opening and start to tug a bit. "I don't think it hit any major veins. Keep it moving guys. Get pressure on his leg wound!"

"Elena, his heartbeat is rising."

I curse under my breath and hiss as I pull a little harder on the glass. "Come on, man. Relax. It's your arm or your life here. You don't wanna die. You have to calm down."

"It's still moving up!"

"Please, please. Breathe, dammit. Calm down, Stefan. You need to calm down." I pull once more on the shard before it tumbles out. "Clean the wound!"

"It's steady again."

Thank God. I start to patch up and clear his leg gash and feel around the scar tissue beside for any breakage. "He's good. Wrap it the rest of the way. Is the bleeding clear?"

"We've got it all closed up!"

"You need to stitch his arm," Amy, a sweet redhead says, holding up his wrist. I move over toward her and start pulling the skin together.

"Good job guys," I praise as I work the skin. "We need to get him into the exam room and get a look inside that head."

I finish up the last couple of stitches and push him toward a nurse to examine.

_Good Job, Stefan._

"Here's the freaky part," Caroline says, rinsing her hands. "There are no internal head injuries. Not brain damage, especially since we saw how his heartbeat moved."

"It must have been a very hard hit on the head. I'm thinking dashboard. His wrist must have gotten cut when he put his hand up to defend himself." I sigh, leaning back in one of the break room chairs. "The good news is, I don't have to cut anyone open today. Especially not a head."

"I guess we'll know everything when he wakes up, huh?"

"Yeah. How's the girl?" I ask, plucking a Cheez-it in my mouth.

"Minor injuries. They aren't dating, though. Her boyfriend has been at her beck and call ever since she woke up. They've both been worried sick about him."

I nod. "Has anyone came in for him?"

"Nope. I was curious about that, too."

The break room door opens and Damon walks through, immediately rushing to my side. He was another surgeon who had worked at Harborview longer than I had. He held a torch, one that was annoyingly persistent. There was no doubt that in a way we had a lot of chemistry and he was bitingly attractive. He was nearly perfect in every aspect about him, and he had a lot of girls going for him. But there were a lot of flaws behind his face. He was impulsive and overly protective, specifically over me. I'd denied his advances vehemently because although he was the perfect guy, he was not the perfect guy for me. I needed more than chemistry and flirtatious glances. I needed passion and commitment, something he couldn't give me if he tried.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. You know that I've done this before, right?"

"I know," he smiles, "It's just that I hate you being around that stuff all by yourself."

Caroline scoffs and rolls her eyes. "She's hardly a baby. We should probably get back in there, Elena." I toss my plastic bag into the trash and nod.

"I thought we could take our break together," Damon suggests, looking between Caroline and I. I shrug and stand from my seat.

"I have to get back to my patient."

When we leave the break room, Caroline giggles and taps my shoulder. "You'd rather spend time with an unconscious hottie than a conscious one?"

I gape at her. "What? Just because he was bleeding out of every orifice doesn't mean that he didn't have it going on."

"You're incorrigible."

He definitely was handsome. Now that he was cleaned up and redressed, he looked peaceful and relaxed. I slid across the room to the chair beside him and inspected his head wrap.

"He looks better."

"He does," Caroline agrees from behind me. "I"m going to go get him some more sheets."

I nod and watch her leave out the door. I stare back at his face, taking in his even breaths and the movements of his shoulders. His mouth is set in a firm line, his pink pouty lips thick but thin.

He was a little more than attractive.

I reached for the wrist I repaired and held it gently. "You did good today."

I didn't expect him to answer, so I wasn't wounded when his mouth didn't move.

"You've probably got a ton of people waiting for you to wake up. Don't take too long, okay? I'll be back tomorrow, or whenever they page me. Don't kill yourself while I'm gone."

I sigh and stand, running a hand through my hair.

I'd be back tomorrow.

**Hey! I don't know where I'm going with this to be honest. I just want to have some fun and write something that could possibly make you all feel a little bit better about this season. Something about memory-less Stefan compelled me to want to write one of my own. I don't know when exactly I'll update with my classes and everything at the moment but I'll try to get them out often. Feel free to raid my inbox with a nice kick in the ass if I don't. (: Thank you for reading and leave me some feedback!**

**Emlyn.**


End file.
